DC Universe Online Receives Belated Update 2

SOE may have announced a severe staff culling, but that hasn’t stopped the release of the second major update pack for DCUO – imaginatively title Update 2, and formally known as the March update.

So, what does the belated March update bring those of us lucky enough to have made it through to early April? A similar set of distractions as the first update pack, really: another Batcave raid, a solo mission against the Penguin, a new PvP Legend character (Two Face), and a Green Lantern-themed Duo level. There’s also a large number of changes being made to the social side of the game, including an improved interface. ‘Bout bloody time, too!

Penguin flocks to DC Universe online

I can imagine many players cancelling their subscriptions when March ended sans-update, but hopefully this of content will keep us surviving subscribers entertained for the next… ooh, 3 or 4 days. DC Universe Online is a fun, accessible MMO with a lot of potential, but it really needs more level 30 content, and soon, before gamers take their monthly tenner elsewhere.

Anyway, here’s that lengthy list of new content and fixes:

New Features:

New Batcave Raid: With Brother Eye out of the way, only Brainiac remains and only you can stop him!. Take your Raid group into the Brainiac Subconstruct, rescue Batman, and help put an end to his occupation of the Batcave.

Heads or Tails: The Penguin is up to something big, and Harvey Dent/Two Face wants your help to take him down. Make your way to the Gotham Sewers for a chance at new loot and adventure.

New PvP Legends Character: Battle your friends or other players as Two Face using his unique set of abilities.

Improved Social UI: All new League functionality and Social menus will allow you to stay in touch with other players even better.

New Appearance Items: All new Celtic themed items are available for collection.

New Races: You may be used to trying to beat the clock, but can you dodge Mr. Mxyzpltk and his tricks?

Join the battle between Green Lantern and Yellow Lantern Corps! Players will find a brand new Duo where they will overcome powerful constructs and claim victory against John Stewart or Sinestro!

General:

Dr Sivana’s robot should no longer attack players while in the Club 539 villain safehouse in Burnley.

Items that are weaponized should now be attackable once they are put down.

Trying to interact with something while logging out will now cancel the log out process.

Batcave: Outer Caverns: All Flashbang Drones in the RCP encounter will self destruct after 40 seconds.

Batcave: Outer Caverns: The number of Flashbang Drones active at one time has been decreased from 3 to 2.

Combat:

General:

Abilities that distribute damage or healing among multiple targets should work better in cases where there are a lot of possible targets nearby.

Corrected an issue that would cause subsequent attacks to have animation irregularities and then fail to resolve properly ultimately causing them to do no damage. This impacts the following abilities: Taser Pull, Mesmerizing Lasso, Whip Pull, and Grapple Line Attack.

If players get encased, stunned, grounded, or rooted in the middle of performing an ability it will no longer cause Break Out to sometimes not work.

Block should no longer get in a state where it occasionally no longer works without re-logging.

After doing a finisher any following combos should now always apply their damage as well.

It is no longer possible to interrupt a dodge roll more quickly than intended.

You should no longer see other players stand up briefly after being knocked out.

Throwing objects now forces a character into combat stance.

Switching roles while in movement mode will no longer cause the UI to show your character in super movement mode though your character has dropped to normal movement mode.

Corrected an issue that prevented players in the Tank Role from being affected by any Resistance, Perception or damage modifying effects (whether positive or negative).

Tank role abilities that specifically improve Movement Resistance now increase that resistance by 10%.

Acrobatics:

Doing a “use” action while using Rocket-assisted glide will no longer get your character stuck in a falling animation.

Acrobats can now glide correctly while auto-run is on.

Flight:

The Rude emote will now play when the character is flying.

Flying forwards and then immediately flying the opposite direction should no longer cause your character to fly feet first.

Flight: Increased the cooldown of the Swoop ability to three seconds.

Flight: Your character should no longer be able to slide around while using High Pressure.

Fire:

Consume Objects should respect line of sight.

Backdraft should only apply its beneficial effects to the one using it

Added additional messaging to the Burnout tooltip to indicate that is also heals the player.

When using Fireball in the damage role it will now properly display the damage buff icon and appear in the current effects display.

Volcanic Calamity should now work properly even without a target.

Gadgets:

Defibrillator will no longer hit allies through walls or barriers.

Ice:

The Ice Elemental form supercharge ability used while in tank form should give a -20% damage penalty instead of a -35% penalty.

Mental:

Breakout should now function properly while in the Mass Hysteria supercharge form.

Phantom Flames will now properly appear as plural in the combat log and the current effects display.

Psychic Empowerment will no longer hit allies through walls or barriers.

Pyrokinesis now correctly applies a stun when used.

Pyrokinesis will only apply its healing debuff effect while in the Control role.

Telekinetic Bolt can no longer be used through walls, ceilings, and floors as this was unintended behavior.

Nature:

Breakout should now function properly in Pterosaur form.

Gorilla Form’s primary melee attacks should now properly appear in the combat log as “Rage Attack” instead of “Ground Pound”.

A collection item’s “Not Collected/Already Collected” tooltip will no longer disappear when moving the item around in the inventory.

Collection items should now work properly when received in trade or from the broker.

Collection item tooltips should now be correct after receiving them via trade or from the broker.

The Catspaw Emblem now has an emblem icon instead of a shoulder icon when viewed in the inventory window.

Equipping the Sharpened Synthium Katana will now collect the Tech Ninja Sword style.

Equipping the Robust Promethium Boots will now collect the Heartshard Boots style instead of the Heartshard Legs style.

Consumable items should now always remain on your power bar when entering a Legends PvP match.

Trinket abilities should no longer appear in the wrong ability slot while shape changed.

Updated the Controller trinkets to grant you power instead of subtracting it.

Updated the Controller trinkets to have a reduced duration now that they work properly.

“Item destroyed” messages should no longer display when mailing items, selling items at the Broker, consuming items, or losing Marks when they are used to purchase items from a vendor. It should now only appear when the player manually deletes the item.

Claiming Marks from mail attachments now works properly.

Mails that have attachment icons can now successfully be deleted.

Matchmaking:

In progress instances now shut down if all players leave.

Matchmaking rules have been refined so Play Now queues place players more fairly.

Instances do not automatically refill if players leave. Instead, players can vote to re-open their instance to matchmaking. Use the quick menu (F1/directional button up) to vote or initiate a vote to re-open the instance. If a group is imbalanced they will not have the option to requeue via matchmaking. You can invite players even if you did not vote to re-open the instance so if you want to make sure that your friend is able to get in you should not re-open for matchmaking.

Matchmade groups that are not full can now vote to invite a specific player to their group using the quick menu or /voteinvite <playername> provided the invited player would be allowed to enter the instance via matchmaking. Imbalanced groups can manually add more players this way.

Matchmade groups can vote to kick players from the instance using the quick menu or /votekick <playername> <reason>. When a player initiates a vote to kick, all other players other than the one being kicked will be offered a vote and if it passes the player will be removed from the instance. In most cases a vote to re-open the instance will automatically start.

It is no longer possible to queue for a specific instance of a PvE scenario. In other words you can queue for any Duo using Play Now, or you can queue for Gotham University – First Available but you cannot queue for Gotham University.

Missions:

Missions with multiple rewards should now properly grant all of the rewards instead of just one of them.

Bring the Fear – This mission now requires the player to protect Manhunters or they will be defeated by Lanterns.

Clue 2 – The Riddler box should no longer be floating above the roof.

Clue 3 – The Riddler box should no longer be floating above the roof.

Coed Chomping – The player will no longer be encased by the mystical cages if they are standing where the coeds spawn. Players will also now get credit for eating the coeds.

Daily Dose of Villainy – Players should now get credit when bringing down the satellite. Also, the Corrupt Cop encounter will now count towards completion of the mission.

The Darkest Side – The mission giver, Infused Darkwalker, can no longer be attacked by the opposite faction.

In the Hero version of “The Demon Inside” Cyborg, Starfire and Nightwing will now revive if they are knocked out when fighting Donna Troy.

The Demon Inside – The fight with the possessed Titans should no longer reset if a player gets near the ceiling.

Exobyte Entrenchment – Players can now re-enter the instance after having completed the mission.

The First Clue – The Riddler box should no longer be floating above the roof.

Giganta Girl – It is no longer possible for Wonder Girl to defeat Giganta without the player’s help.

Quests: In “Giganta Girl” it is no longer possible to get Giganta into a state where the quest cannot be completed.

Giganta Girl – General Tethytus and his minions will now reset properly if the player is defeated.

Hall of Heroes – Manhunter’s heal has been reduced.

In Limbo – Dr. Fate should no longer become stuck thus preventing the door next door from opening so that players can continue the quest.

Last Laugh- The objectives have been changed from level 14 to level 13.

Lunatic Fringe – This mission will allow players to better deal with nearby enemy NPCs without engaging Lefty and Righty as frequently.

Outt of the Shadows – Players can now re-enter this instance after having completed the quest.

Raven Unleashed – Heroes should no longer be able to attack the civilians at the beginning of the encounter after they are restored.

Rescinding the Clowns – This mission will now be properly granted by Sergeant Tarkanean in the case where “Hot Headed Road Rage” was already completed.

Return to the Batcave – This mission now has a more descriptive objective text about where to go to enter the Batcave.

Rush Week – The mutagen vans should no longer appear to be floating when they spawn.

Saving the Souls of Students – Players will now get credit for saving the coeds.

Saving the Souls of Students” the player will no longer be encased by the mystical cages if they are standing where the coeds spawn.

Saving the Souls of Students – This mission has been improved by pointing players to Etrigan before they attempt to secure the students.

Shades of Gray – Players can now re-enter this instance after having completed the mission.

Superman’s Doom- There should no longer be a targetable invisible object in the instance after the final cutscene plays.

That Stings! – The Stinger Scepter drop rate has been increased on the Lex Corp Saboteurs.

To Catch a Thief – Catwoman will no longer be able to be juggled while possessed by the occult power of the Cheetah.

To Catch a Thief – Catwoman will properly return to the center of the room when each occult live has been defeated.

To Catch a Thief – Catwoman will no longer be able to attack players while stuck at 1 health.

To Catch a Thief – Catwoman will no longer get stuck in an occult life transition.

To Catch a Thief – Catwoman’s final phase will no longer have an extended delay before she re-enters combat.

To Catch a Thief – The cutscene that plays at the end of the quest can now be skipped if desired.

T.O.Morrow! – Some map holes were filled in for this mission where it was possible for players to get out of the map.

Vengeful Embrace – Eclipso will now drop loot when he is knocked out.

What Luthor Wants… – Players may now re-enter this instance after having completed the quest.

PvP:

After exiting a Legends match your abilities will now always load correctly.

Decreased the damage caused by Robin’s staff spin to bring it in line with other similar abilities.

Corrected an issue that would allow Robin to retain Staff Flurry’s damage prevention properties for a short time after the attack was completed or interrupted.

Two-Face joins the ranks of the Legends PvP characters. His Exobyte Data can be purchased in the Hall of Doom and Watchtower

In Ace Chemicals, all chemical vats now cause damage over time if you end up in them.

In “Ace Chemicals” there is no longer a way to turn in to a Zombie.

The bonus damage caused by all forms of counter-attacks (Block, Interrupt, Block Breaking) are now standardized across the board. The bonus damage caused is based upon the level of the person interrupted. For example, a level 10 player counter-attacking a level 30 player will inflict level 30 counter-attack damage.

The Block ability will no longer mitigate the bonus damage caused by block breaking abilities.

Added “Power Restoration” stats to the PvP Capture the Flag and Capture and Hold scorecards.

Races:

Player’s should no longer see visual effects when another player passes through a race hoop.

In the Primate Propellant race, the times required for the Platinum and Gold medals have been corrected as they were inadvertently reversed.

Characters should now exit auto move when finishing a race.

UI:

The mission acceptance UI will now display how many items are in a stack for quest rewards.

Improved the navigation of the Options menu when using a gamepad.

The quick menu will now display ability combos when your character is in a different form.

The quick menu should no longer display combos for power sources that aren’t currently equipped.

The Vendor UI should no longer pop up in the middle of an arena match if you were interacting with a vendor before joining the arena.

The player character should now display in the vendor preview window without having to close and re-open the window.

The default screenshot key (F9) can now be remapped to other keys.

Broker:

If an item shares the same name as a different item on the Broker it should now properly appear when sorting by name.

Previous/Next Page buttons now respect the contents of the search field.

Buying an item no longer sends you back to the first page of the Broker.

Chat:

Proximity chat channels are now restricted by alignment.

Push to Talk is now enabled by default.

Proximity chat is now enabled by default.

Improved reliability of voice chat for Leagues with long names.

Ignoring another player will now mute them in the voice channels.

Proximity chat will now always use the camera position to determine volume and orientation.

Collections: Corrected some localization string issues in the Collections UI.

Collections: Corrected some localization string issues in the Collections UI.

Feat sub-categories will now maintain proper visibility status.

You are now able to adjust voice chat volumes for individual characters.

Chat options can now be found under the Settings menu of the Options UI.

Voice chat speaker icons should no longer remain over players heads when no longer relevant.
You can now join custom voice and text chat channels through the Chat Options tab of the Options -> Settings UI.

The Trade chat channel for Villains is no longer called “Hero Trade”.

Group:

The group leader can no longer modify the group options in an alert or pvp match.

You should now see a nag icon if you have a pending group vote waiting. The group vote nag icon will show up in the same area as the pending group loot icon. If you have both pending group loot and group votes, the icons will cycle back and forth.

Group Loot roll messages are now only sent to members of the group that qualified to receive the loot.

The loot options for a group can’t be changed if there is pending loot to be awarded.

Collection items being distributed through group loot will indicate if they had previously been collected.

League:

Deleted characters that are in a league will now be removed from the league.

Deleting the leader of a league will now default the league leadership to the person at the next highest rank. In the event of a tie the person who has been a member of the guild the longest will be promoted.

Added messaging when creating a league as to why an invited player cannot join the league.

Map:

Added a new street view to the map UI.

The Map will no longer display controller icons when playing with a mouse and keyboard.

Social:

League Text Channels will now display text notifications when members enter and exit the channel.

League members will now show the correct online status.

Deleted characters will no longer appear in the list of members for a League.

The prompt to join a league will now disappear when the invitation times out.

Improved messaging to ensure that a new leader is promoted before the existing leader can quit a League.

Any cash earned from completion of dailies will now be displayed in the combat chat channel.

The Emotes UI has now been combined with the Canned Chat UI.

The targeted character should now display in the inspection window without having to close and re-open the window.

Text Channels will now show text notifications when entering and leaving text chat channels.

“Recent Text Chat” to the new Social D-Pad menu.

“Recent Voice Chat” to the new Social D-Pad menu.

Weapon:

Many weapon attacks performed by single button presses, such as lunge attacks, will not apply their damage if cancelled early. Counter-attack properties such as “Interrupt” will still apply instantly, even if the attack is cancelled before it fully resolves.

Carl Doherty

Carl Doherty has written about movies, video games, comic books and literature for almost a decade, forging ill-informed critiques for numerous websites, blogs and publications that no one has ever heard of. His debut novel, the epic fantasy comedy Welcome to The Fold, is available now on Kindle here (UK) and here (US).

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